INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana – An estimated 7 million Americans hospitalized each year have delirium, a condition affecting the elderly that goes undiagnosed 60% of the time and can prove deadly. Here's a few things that you can do to protect yourself.
Needle point keeps Rolland Pfile's mind at ease, but a recent stay at the hospital for an emergency surgery had him terrified.
"Almost anything that I heard, I was interpreting as a death threat," Rolland Pfile told Ivanhoe.
"He thought the medical people were trying to kill him and he was trying to escape," Laverne Pfile, Rolland's wife, said.
Rolland was suffering from delirium, a sudden alteration in mental state affecting about 80% of patients in the ICU.
"If I'd have gotten a hold of a weapon I would have started firing and [I] could have hurt someone badly," Rolland said.
"Delirium is acute brain failure," Malaz Boustani, M.D., Regenstrief Institute investigator and associate professor of medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine, said.
Doctor Boustani says it can be just as serious as having a heart attack.
"Your chance of death over the next 30 days doubles," Dr. Boustani said. And it doesn't stop there.
"Your chance of developing full blown Alzheimer's disease over the next 5 years goes up two, sometimes five times, the odds," Dr. Boustani said.
While the exact cause of delirium is not known, Doctor boustani says it starts by caucusing a spiral inflammation and spiral death for the neuron or brain cells.
In about 40% of cases, hospital acquired delirium is preventable. Here's what you can do to help your loved ones.
First, have a list of all the patient's medications. Over-medication can trigger delirium. Second, bring their glasses and hearing aids, and watch for obvious signs like confusion.
"One hour the patient is back to normal another hour the patient is more confused," Dr.Boustani said. "This fluctuation is a red flag."
Finally make things familiar by bringing comforting objects from home to help orientate them. These are tips Rolland's wife wished she had known sooner.
"I knew nothing about delirium. I didn't have a clue," Laverne said.
Until recently, hospital-acquired delirium was chalked up to old age and not considered a condition to be prevented or treated. Doctor Boustani says delirium patients also end up in nursing homes 75% of the time, five times higher than those without the condition.
The condition also leads to longer stays in the hospital, up to 10 days longer, costing patients an average $60,000 per hospital stay.
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